Chagai [Pakistan] / Berlin [Germany], August 9 (ANI): Afghan women are facing mounting dangers on two continents — in Pakistan, where tens of thousands are at risk of forced deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and in Germany, where a surge in asylum applications reflects the worsening humanitarian crisis.
In Pakistan’s Chagai district, Afghan refugee mothers say they are living in constant fear as Islamabad’s “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan” pushes them closer to expulsion. Women like 38-year-old Latifa Bibi, who fled Kandahar in 1987 after her husband’s death, have spent decades building lives in Pakistan, only to be told they must leave. “Where will we go? We have no house, no work, no safety in Afghanistan. We built our lives here,” she told The Diplomat.
Latifa’s three daughters have never known any home but the dusty refugee camps of Chagai, yet their future now hinges on the expiry of a document. Around 1.3 million Afghans in Pakistan hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards — their only protection against deportation — but these expired on June 30. Despite an interim order to halt harassment, police raids continue, targeting both undocumented Afghans and PoR-card holders.
Aid workers report that since the cards lapsed, food, water, and healthcare in camps have been cut by 60 percent. Latifa described sleepless nights and daughters who wake screaming when police vehicles approach. “If they force us back, their education stops. Their dignity vanishes. No mother can bear that,” she said.
In late July, Pakistan’s human-rights watchdog in Quetta warned that law enforcement had ordered camp elders in Gardi Jungle, Laji Karez, and Posti to evacuate by July 31 or lose their rights, despite pleas for more time to wind down livelihoods. Refugee advocates accuse Islamabad of collective punishment, targeting women and children with no links to security threats.
UNHCR spokesperson Qaiser Khan Afridi stressed that forced returns violate the principle of non-refoulement and could have devastating consequences: “Afghanistan still faces a dire humanitarian crisis and rampant rights abuses. Families here have lived on this soil for decades; their return must be voluntary, safe, dignified, and respectful.”
Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan bans girls from secondary school, forbids women from working, and criminalizes female public life. Human-rights lawyer Moniza Kakar warned that Pakistan’s deportations ignore these realities and breach international norms, calling for a refugee law and citizenship pathways for long-term residents. Since April, Pakistan has registered 226,279 Afghan nationals for deportation and already expelled 42,306 — including more than 115,000 women and girls. Aid agencies warn this will fuel child marriage, poverty, and extremist recruitment.
Meanwhile in Germany, worsening conditions in Afghanistan and recent EU legal rulings have triggered a sharp rise in asylum applications from Afghan women. According to Der Spiegel, over 3,000 Afghan women sought asylum in Germany in July 2025 alone — more than double the previous month. Since January, approximately 9,593 women have applied, driven by what experts call a systematic erasure of women’s rights by the Taliban since 2021.
A landmark European Court of Justice ruling in late 2024 declared that “women in Afghanistan are generally subject to political persecution,” strengthening their eligibility for asylum under EU law. Germany’s immigration authority acknowledges that this has significantly improved the chances for Afghan women to secure refugee status.
However, Germany’s migration policy remains divided. While the legal path for women fleeing persecution has improved, Bavaria’s Premier Markus Soder has doubled down on deportations of foreign nationals convicted of crimes, including Afghans. “Law and order prevail in Bavaria. Foreign criminals must be decisively deported — even to Afghanistan and Syria. More people should be deported, and fewer should be accepted,” Soder said.
His remarks have raised concerns among Afghan nationals in Germany, who say the federal government has tightened its stance by giving more deportation powers to state governments. Refugee rights activists warn that the political shift could jeopardize the safety of vulnerable individuals, even as the Taliban’s repression deepens.
Germany recently deported 81 Afghans to Kabul on July 17 — the second such operation this year. Activists fear such moves, combined with Pakistan’s crackdown, could leave thousands of Afghan women trapped between persecution at home and shrinking safe havens abroad.
Under the blazing Chagai sun, Latifa Bibi summed up the fears of many: “Treat us like human beings, not threats. Our worth isn’t measured by a card’s expiry date.”
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